Canals: The Making Of A Nation
Canals: The Making Of A Nation is a documentary on Yesterday. Liz McIvor looks at who built the nation's canal network, who funded it, those who worked on it and how they were regenerated following WWII. The program has been available since 2024. A total of 12 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in December 2024.
Last episode
Canals: The Making Of A Nation
Liz McIvor recounts the story of 'canal mania', the period of activity that helped develop Britain's modern financial economy, now centred in London.
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Liz McIvor charts the struggles of the builders and engineers tasked with creating a landscape of canals over the rugged terrain surrounding the Pennine hills.
How the process of building Britain's canals resulted in furthering geological knowledge, as surveyor William Smith created the first geological map of England and Wales.
Liz McIvor explores how the nation's canals were saved following years of postwar neglect, becoming places of tranquillity and popular for boating holidays.
Liz McIvor recounts the tales of the men who built the canals - the navigators or navvies - focusing on their work on the Manchester Ship Canal.
Liz McIvor tells the story of the people who operated the canal boats, carrying fuel and goods around the country.
August 2024
30:00
30:00How Birmingham led the way in urban regeneration, turning canals and their immediate surroundings from places to be avoided to places to be enjoyed.
30:00Liz McIvor tells the story of the people who operated the canal boats, who during the Victorian era gained reputations for criminality, violence and drinking.
25:00Liz McIvor examines the Manchester Ship Canal. Hailed as the greatest engineering feat of the Victorian age.
35:00Liz McIvor recounts the story of 'canal mania' - a boom period of frenzied activity that helped develop Britain's modern financial economy, now centred in London.
25:00Liz McIvor discovers how carving up the landscape in order to build canals helped man's understanding of the earth below.
25:00Liz McIvor tells the story of the early canal builders who struggled with the rugged terrain of England's Pennine hills.